‘Put variety in White’: Multi-analytical investigation of the white pigments inlaid on Early Chalcolithic pottery from Southern Romania

•31 Early Chalcolithic pottery sherds with encrusted white pigment were investigated.•Calcite, bone ash, and silica-rich sediments were identified as decorating pigments.•Mixtures of calcite and bone ash point to a local tradition not previously discussed.•Exotic diatomaceous earths were identified as whitening materials in two pigments.•Both local and exotic raw materials were used to obtain the white pigment.•The mixing of materials seen as a technological choice and as a symbolic behaviour.